#Man accused of slugging Rick Moranis has history of assault

The homeless ex-con accused of slugging actor Rick Moranis has been randomly attacking strangers for the past six months, it was revealed at his Sunday night arraignment.

Marquis Ventura, 35, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on an assault charge for allegedly knocking Moranis to the ground in a random attack on Oct. 1.

The suspect has been involved with a number of other seemingly random, unprovoked attacks – including just hours after allegedly pummeling the “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” actor.

Prosecutors on Sunday night said following the infamous Upper West Side attack, Ventura later assaulted a Big Apple liquor store owner.

When “confronted by the store owner, the defendant threw the [champagne] bottle at the store owner and then proceeded to repeatedly punch him above the head,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Kelly Keating said at Ventura’s arraignment.

For that incident, Ventura was arraigned on charges of assault and petit larceny.

Then last August, Ventura allegedly assaulted a customer inside another New York City store, prosecutors said. He was arraigned on harassment and assault charges in that case.

“The defendant has now been charged with five separate assaults occurring over a six month period in 2020, all which include unprovoked attacks on strangers during a global pandemic,” Keating said.

“The defendant has demonstrated with disregard the rules of society and rights of others,” the prosecutor said.

Ventura, who was arrested Saturday, was remanded by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Nicholas Moyne and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

His attorney, Autumn Levine, told the judge Sunday night that her client suffers from schizophrenia.

“He was in the psych ward in seven different states … diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, and has been without his medication,” Levine said.

In addition to the three new assault indictments from Sunday night’s arraignment, Ventura was arrested in October for allegedly pummeling a straphanger in the West 4th Street subway station.

Another alleged attack on a straphanger in the Bronx last April led to another charge against Ventura.

Ventura is also expected to at some point be extradited to Pennsylvania for yet another charge.